Make Your Mark
by JKdramione
Summary: When the cloud of smoke cleared, all she could see were four familiar faces. "W-where are we?" Sirius spoke hazily. It took all of Hermione's strength and courage not to double over as she choked out, "Welcome to the future."
1. Our Only Option

**A/N: **Well, this is certainly my first full-fledged story in regards to the Marauders, but I think there are a lot of ways to go with this, and truthfully, I'm extremely excited. If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to review!(:

Without further ado, the first chapter!

~jkdramione21

**1. Our Only Option **

War was in the air.

It was an easy thing to feel, really, to know exactly that the time for action was among you. The tension could be cut with a knife, the weather never seemed to include blue skies or a shining sun, and it was the time for desperate measures. Desperate measures were drastic, yes, but with the threat of bloody war looming over people's heads like a dark cloud, everyone was starting to look for a brilliant solution that was going to minimize the damage as much as possible.

That was exactly the mindset that Hermione Granger kept in mind as she poured over Ancient Runes books in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library. The mantra replaying itself in her mind were the last words that Dumbledore had spoken to her during Sixth Year before everyone parted for the summer: _Do whatever it takes to help Harry and stop Voldemort. We are running out of time and out of options. _She had spent her entire holidays thinking of a way to give them an advantage over Voldemort and his followers until late in July when the thought of ingenuity struck her. With special permission from Dumbledore, she had returned to Hogwarts early to conduct her research before sharing her findings with the Headmaster, and more importantly, with her two best friends.

The solution to all of their troubles lay inside one of these books that involved incredibly tricky spellwork and the right frame of mind. If one were to use such a spell with malevolent intentions, their soul would cease to exist. It was this that made the spell so hard. She merely had to find everything she could on it before it was too late.

Strands of wild brown hair flew in her face, impatiently tickling her cheeks. With a quiet snort, she brushed them behind her ear just as the clock struck two o'clock in the morning. Working by lamplight was tiring, and she could feel the idea of sleep appealing to her more and more as she worked. It took all of her strength to keep her tired eyes scanning page after page of text, making sure to soak it all in and not miss a single key word. One wrong move, and not only would she lose her life and soul, but many more after that would fall victim to Voldemort if she couldn't find a way to stop him.

Harry had worn himself out, leaving classes early to his pre-scheduled meetings with Dumbledore and shaping up all their willing classmates in the D.A. He needed someone he could trust looking into alternatives that would help them prepare for war, and she was up for the task. Not only was Ron incapable of such a feat, but he too, was attending meetings with Harry and helping out tremendously with the D.A. Not that Hermione wasn't still a vital part of the gang or that she wasn't attending those same meetings with her friends; she was. She wanted to take that extra burden upon herself; it was the only way she would be able to feel of actual use. When this was all over, she would relax.

Until then, she had more books to look through.

When Hermione finished the book she had been currently working through, she stood up wearily, going back into the Restricted Section to pick out the next book.

Suddenly, she heard loud footsteps that were attempting to be quiet, and ducked, pressing the Ancient Runes book to her chest, attempting to quiet her breathing. It seemed that ever since Voldemort had started gaining more and more power that he could do the impossible. But she was being ridiculous. There was no way they could get into Hogwarts; she was simply letting her paranoia get the best of her.

"_Hermione_?" came a stage whisper.

The witch sighed in relief at the warm familiarity of the voice. "Harry!" she whispered harshly, popping her head around the corner. Standing in nothing but a simple pair of sweatpants and one of his old Quidditch t-shirts stood her friend, a confused look on his face as he rumpled his hair with his hand, eyes still heavy with sleep.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quickly, stowing the book behind her. Hermione wasn't ready for Harry or Ron to see her research yet, no matter how close she was to coming to a breakthrough. If it was all for nothing, so be it. She wasn't going to get one of her best friend's hopes up for...nothing.

Harry noticed. Damn, it hadn't taken him long to fully wake up. What else could you expect for someone who had to go under such intense training for months on end with only a few hours of sleep? "Lemme guess…you're not here for a little light reading, are you?"

"It's nothing," she said quickly, but both of them knew it was a blatant lie. Damn him for knowing her too well.

"Hermione..." Harry trailed off, but snaked his hand around her waist and plucked the book from her hands. His quick Seeker skills were too much for her as he backtracked several steps to get a good look at the title under the desk lamp that Hermione had been working at. "_Ancient Time Runes: Unlocking the Past, Present & Future. _Why on earth would you need this?"

"Harry, it's too soon for you to know," Hermione said firmly. "I can't tell you."

"Does this have something to do with the war?" Harry asked, his voice lowered.

Hermione snorted. "No. I'm just looking up ways to save your life just for fun." Immediately, she regretted her sarcastic words when she saw the look on Harry's face as though she had physically slapped him.

"I didn't ask for your help," he said quietly. "Yours or Ron's. This is supposed to be my responsibility, not yours. He killed _my _parents, Hermione, _not yours._"

"You don't have a choice," Hermione snapped fiercely. "I've already risked my life for you and I'm not going to stop now. I've had an idea of how we can get a little bit of help with the war coming, involving extremely complicated magic that I doubt even Dumbledore knew existed until now…but I can't get anyone's hopes up, not even my own. It may not even work."

Harry had remained quiet throughout her entire speech, but when she finally stopped, he sat down at the desk next to the chair she had been occupying, and started to flip through her book.

"What the _hell _are you doing?" she demanded, trying to snatch the book back, but Harry held up his hand, pushing her shoulders away while he continued to read.

"What does it bloody look like I'm doing, Hermione? I'm helping you."

Hermione snorted derisively. "Oh no, you're not, Harry Potter. This is my job, not yours. You have too many things to be worrying about than some spell that might not even work."

Her friend looked up at her sharply, and for the first time in her life, Hermione was a little afraid of the glare in his eyes. "You should have come to me right away. Simply because I'm busy is not an excuse to keep something as big as a way to get us out of this mess from me. I'm here now. You _will _tell me everything you know about this spell. This is our only option, Hermione and I refuse to let you do this by yourself."

"It's _not _our only option!" Hermione argued. "I thought it was a good idea, yes, but it is not our only option!"

Harry calmly closed the book, and gestured for Hermione to join him. "Then tell me about your idea, the spell and what you intend to do. Then we can decide if it's our only option or not."

She sighed wearily, pushing her bushy hair out of her face once again. There was simply no arguing with a stubborn Harry, and both of them unfortunately knew it. "Fine," she said reluctantly. "But we don't tell Ron until I have completely finished finding out everything I can."

"Fine."

Hermione sighed again deeply and sat down next to him. She tugged her notebook towards her and opened the book to the first page. "I've been looking for a way that we can gain an advantage over Voldemort," she explained. "He's been able to persuade many to join his cause and though we have many people in the Order doing the exact same thing, I don't know if it'll be enough. We needed people who were more powerful than Voldemort that we could hopefully persuade to join our side. People who would help in a heartbeat if it meant the preservation of the school and upholding the honor of the legacy that they created."

She squinted at Harry, pursing her lips together as she watched him put the pieces together. "You're going to bring back the Founders?" he asked in disbelief. "Hermione!"

"I know," she said quickly. "It's a crazy idea, one that might not even work, but what if it _does _work? We'd have incredible power and intelligence on our side that Voldemort would only _dream _of procuring. We could win, Harry. It could all be over."

"What's the incantation?" Harry asked quietly.

"It's not a simple spell like we're used to," Hermione explained. "It's more of a verse that must be recited, kind of like a ritual almost."

"How do we do it?" Harry asked.

"It's rather complicated," Hermione confessed. "It's the pretty much the last part of my research. So far, I had been looking at the effects that the spell could have on the fabric of time and the time ripples that could be effected as well. I had to be absolutely certain that this wouldn't change the past in a way that would destroy our present day as well as the future."

"And…?"

Hermione beamed. "With what we want to do, there's not a chance of messing up anything."

Harry grinned at her. "You're a wonder, Hermione."

She shrugged. "It was nothing, really. You just need to think out of the box sometimes…and I think if we can find the exact detailed steps for the ritual that we could proceed without difficulty. You were right, Harry."

"About what?"

She took a deep breath. "This is our only option. There isn't going back after this. This is war."


	2. Even the Best Laid Plans Backfire

**A/N: **So I don't end up breaking down from the stress of finals coming up and worrying about this, I'll probably upload on Thursdays or Fridays at the very latest, just to keep it consistent. Don't forget to review any questions or comments, favorite or follow if you want to continue reading!(:

This is my first story on here, but I just wanted to thank you guys simply for taking the time out of your day to read my work. It means a lot(:

~JKdramione21

* * *

><p><strong>2. Even the Best Laid Plans Backfire...Literally <strong>

It took weeks of long nights in the Restricted Section of the library, countless questions from Ron, and pots of coffee to keep them awake before the answer that they had been recklessly searching for emerged.

"This is it!" Hermione nearly screamed, causing Harry to wake up with a start. With a bit of drool hanging from his mouth, it took all of her wits not to tease him and show him the book she had been going through instead. "I've found the ritual, Harry. Months of research has been leading up to this moment."

This jolted Harry out of his fatigue before snatching the book from Hermione and began reading frantically. "We need three wizards for this."

"I thought now would be the time to bring Ron into this," she admitted. "But not before we go to Dumbledore with this."

"We don't have time for that!" Harry said excitedly. "Hermione, I don't think Dumbledore would mind if we proceeded this without him. If it doesn't work, so be it. Let's get Ron and do the damn ritual."

Hermione bit her lip worriedly. "We could get into trouble."

"C'mon, 'Mione," Harry insisted. "Take a risk!"

A wide smile spread across Hermione's face. Harry was absolutely right. Months of planning went into this and she wasn't usually one to be reckless like the boys, but they were at war. Every second counted, and if this did work and the Founders could be persuaded, Dumbledore wouldn't care. This was the right thing to do. "Let's go," Hermione said forcefully.

Harry threw the Invisibility Cloak over both of them, the book carefully tucked underneath Hermione's arm as they made their way silently back to Gryffindor Tower. In the dead of night, everyone but Filch and the prefects would be patrolling the corridors.

They managed to make it back to the common room without any difficulties and within minutes, Harry had dragged Ron down the stairs and onto the couch. "W-what are you guys d-doing up so late?" Ron yawned, stretching his arms and blinking tiredly. "It's got to be at least one in the morning."

"It's actually three," Hermione said cheekily, winking at him.

Ron groaned softly, scowling at her. "This better be good."

"It's better than good, Ron," Harry whispered excitedly. "Hermione's found a way to save us all."

She blushed bashfully. "I didn't do it all alone."

Ron looked between the two of them, trying to understand. "So this is what you guys have been doing without me all these weeks?"

Hermione shot him a guilty smile. "We didn't want to get your hopes up, but now that we've had a breakthrough, we need your help."

Her redheaded friend glared at her before softening up and nodding his head. "Alright, 'Mione. What do we have to do?"

She flipped through the book before putting it down on the table and ducking into her room for a small item. Hermione returned a few minutes later, the Time-Turner dangling from her fingers, gleaming in the moonlight that streamed in from a window. "I need to break the Time-Turner."

"_No_!" protested Ron. "Hermione, you can't do that! That's probably the only one left in the entire wizarding world."

Hermione shrugged. "I have no further use for it. Besides, we need the sand inside it for the ritual to work." When Ron decided to protest further, she added, "It's for the greater good, Ronald. Don't be so selfish!"

Ron opened his mouth angrily to retort before Harry cut in, "Just do it Hermione before people start waking up."

She nodded and took out her wand, muttering a spell that cut the class cleanly, allowing the pearly white sand to fall into a pile neatly on the table. Moving around the furniture, she lit a fire in the fireplace, all the while, Harry and Ron stood back as spectators, watching their friend with a mixture of awe and fear. They were worried about her—spending all those nights alone before Harry found out what she was up to. If anything happened to Hermione, it would be the death of them as well.

Once Hermione had cleared the furniture, she asked them to stand in front of the fire but several paces back so they still maintained a noticeable difference. She scooped up the sand from the Time-Turner and sprinkled it into the fire, muttering a few words until the fire turned a bright shade of scarlet. Harry and Ron both jumped, looking wide-eyed at Hermione, who assured them that everything would be okay if they trusted her.

They nodded simultaneously, still uneasy. "You're going to have to say this incantation clearly," she explained softly. "but the thing that makes this tricky is that you have to keep a completely clear mind while saying it and _imagine _the Founders appearing in the common room. If you think about anything else, you may end up bringing the wrong people back or worse, we all lose our lives."

"No pressure," muttered Ron.

"We can get someone else if you can't handle this," Hermione said sharply.

"I'm sure that's not what he meant, Hermione," Harry soothed. "What's the incantation?"

Hermione picked up her notebook from the table and carefully recited, "_Ex praeteritis ad futura suscipimus. Et salvum faciet in oportuno in tempore ut in cervicem vestram._"

"That's so complicated!" Ron protested.

"We have a few hours," Hermione pointed out. "Latin's not _that _complicated."

Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at one another. "Let's just learn the damn thing and recite it." Harry took the notebook from Hermione's clutch and spent the next few minutes reciting it silently with Ron on the couch.

When they thought they got it down, they resumed their places in front of the fire. "Ready?" asked Hermione.

"Ready," they chorused.

""_Ex praeteritis ad futura suscipimus. Et salvum faciet in oportuno in tempore ut in cervicem vestram,_" they chanted, pointing their wands at the scarlet fire.

However, only two of the trio kept their minds clear, with thoughts of only the Founders of Hogwarts. It was this single act of absentmindedness that caused the fire to smoke uncontrollably, a thick, dense fog pouring out of the fireplace. Hermione's eyes widened in fear; this wasn't what was supposed to happen. This wasn't what the book had said would happen. Something had gone wrong. She looked pleadingly at the boys but before she could get in a word, the smoke billowed around them, stinging her eyes.

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, coughing and sputtering, wandering backwards aimlessly until she fell backwards onto what she assumed was the couch. _What have I done? _Her mind screamed. This wasn't the time for making mistakes. She couldn't _afford _to make a mistake.

She was just lucky that no students had been roused by the noises they were making down in the common room. And maybe, just maybe nothing bad would come out of this awful disaster.

When the smoke cleared, Hermione glanced sideways at Ron and Harry who seemed to have fallen backwards onto the couch. Harry gasped loudly, diverting her attention back to the fireplace.

The fire had died, and sprawled in front of it was a mangled bunch of teenagers. But…that wasn't possible. Hermione assumed the spell hadn't worked at all, never had it occurred to her that maybe she had brought four people back from their own time unintentionally. What was she going to tell Dumbledore, who had _entrusted _her to not make such a disastrous mistake. When they came to, Hermione made note of three boys and a girl. All of them rubbed their heads in confusion, looking at each other, taking in their surroundings. It was then when Hermione's blood ran cold and her heart almost stopped working altogether.

A boy almost identical to Harry crawled over to the girl with flaming red hair, putting his hand on her cheek tenderly, murmuring that she was alright. They were so familiar that Hermione thought her heart would burst for Harry. The last two members of the group had dark and light brown hair, strong builds and confusion in their faces. It was then that the group of teenagers seemed to notice the Trio sitting on the couch, watching them with dumbstruck expressions.

"W-where are we?" Sirius Black asked hazily, scratching the back of his head.

It took all of Hermione's strength and courage not to double over as she choked out, "Welcome to the future."


	3. A Grave Feat

**A/N: **I am so sorry that it took me so long to upload this and not even on schedule and I'm thankful that you have all bore with me. I just want to clear something up for this one chapter that may not do a very good job on it's own: in this story, there are still Horcruxes and the same Horcruxes have already been destroyed, but Dumbledore is not dead. Does that make sense? I hope it does. If you need any clarification, don't hesitate to contact me and I can explain. But without further ado, here's the third chapter!(:

**3. A Grave Feat **

It was far too much to take in; the sight of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Lily Evans, and James Potter 20 years further into the future than they were supposed to be, standing in the common room with identical looks of confusion etched in their faces. Hermione felt a pang of pity in her chest for Harry, whose brain must've been going into overdrive at the sight of his dead parents, returned to him in their teenage forms, unknowing that one of the people standing before them would be their son. She shot a look over at her friend, who had gone extremely pale, as though it were taking all of his strength not to break down.

"I'm guessing this isn't some kind of Slytherin prank?" Sirius asked timidly, a noticeable smirk creeping its way onto his lips despite his rather unusual situation. He didn't remind Hermione of the Sirius Black that they used to know. The boy standing before them was seemingly vibrant, fun and full of life. He didn't have the same bitter resentment that had carried with him from the painful betrayal by one of his best friend or carry the sadness that came with the deaths of the two people standing beside him. He looked stronger, more confident. There was a roughish handsomeness about him and a certain way in which he carried himself—as though he knew of his good looks, but didn't wish to flaunt them.

"We're not exactly Slytherin's best mates, Sirius," Ron snorted. For a moment, there was a dead silence in the room. Ron hadn't even realized the mistake of his words until after Hermione had shot her best impression of Professor McGonagall at him.

"How did you know his name?" Remus asked carefully. There was an extremely guarded look upon his sallow face.

Ron looked from Harry to Hermione for help, but Harry was still paralyzed with shock. Hermione sighed, taking it upon herself to do damage control, wondering when Ron would ever learn to keep his mouth shut.

"Let's just say that the future wizarding world is very familiar with Sirius." Hermione said dryly, trying to keep herself from laughing at the irony of her statement.

Sirius, however, found this to be utterly hilarious and puffed out his chest with pride. "I bet I'll be selling a few autographs during my time here, eh?" He glanced over at Remus and nudged his friend with his elbow. "Free autograph, Moony? How 'bout you, Prongs? Maybe you could buy the missus something nice." Sirius winked at his friends cheekily.

Today was just getting odder and odder by the second.

Hermione wasn't even sure what to make of the scene unfolding in front of her. Sure, she, Harry and Ron had gone through some weird things in their life—things that most kids never ever have to endure at such a young age—but this had to be the figurative cherry on top.

"We have to go see Dumbledore," she said firmly. "He'll know what to make of this."

"No." Hermione looked over to see Harry had finally regained his voice.

"Harry…" she said as gently as she could, "Dumbledore will know what to do."

There was an immense pain on Harry's face, one that almost broke Hermione's heart to look at. "'Mione, I have to."

"There will be a time and place for all of that, Harry," Hermione spoke softly, reaching out to grip Harry's hand, "But we need to talk to Dumbledore first and foremost. Please bear with me for a few more minutes."

Reluctantly, her friend nodded and she sighed with relief. Although nothing could please Hermione more than Harry's reunion with his parents, they still had matters to take care of. What were they going to do with four people from the past that were not supposed to be there? Hermione hadn't even surmised what she would've done if by accident the ritual had brought others back. In all honesty, she had gotten caught up by the ingenuity of it all.

As the seven of them descended from Gryffindor Tower, Hermione snuck a sideways glance at the four additions. She smiled inwardly when she noticed James and Lily's intertwined fingers.

"Wishing that was you?" a voice whispered, tickling her ear.

Hermione whirled to her other side, startled when she saw Sirius. How had he snuck around her without her noticing? "Uh no…" she blushed, "I just thought they were adorable, that's all."

"Pity," Sirius said quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind. What did you say your name was?"

Hermione felt like smacking her forehead. That might've been a good thing to tell them. "I'm Hermione, that's Ron and Harry."

"You and Harry make a cute couple too, you know," Sirius added quickly.

Hermione was thankful that the corridors were lit dimly and Sirius couldn't see the second time that Hermione had blushed in the last ten minutes. "Harry and I aren't a couple," she said softly, "he's like my brother."

There was a silence that fell between the two of them until Ron interrupted the silence by announcing their arrival at Dumbledore's office. Hermione, being the authoritative Head Girl that she was, stepped in front of the groups and said, "Licorice Snaps."

The gargoyle statue hummed to life, shifting until it revealed a winding staircase up into the Headmaster's office. Within minutes, the group of teens had dragged a most startled Dumbledore down into his office. He listened to their very brief story with intense focus, and when they were done, he looked at Hermione specifically. "Miss. Granger, could I have a word with you, privately for a moment?"

"Professor…" Harry protested softly.

"It'll only take a moment," Dumbledore said kindly, although there was nothing kind in his eyes that Hermione could see. There was great fear, something that she had never seen in the old man's eyes before. If Dumbledore was wary, then the situation was far graver than she could have ever imagined.

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand quickly. "I'll be fine," she assured him, "don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

He gave her a weak smile. "Of course."

Lily, James, Sirius and Remus all exchanged looks of confusion, and for a moment, Hermione pitied them greatly. It had to be extremely rough; being dragged out of the only life you knew into one where your greatest fears and dreams have either come true or vanished completely. But once again, it was difficult to concentrate on each individual life when you still had the Greater Good to worry about.

"C'mon guys," Harry muttered to the others, "we'll wait in the hall." With a frustrated sigh, he led the group outside, leaving Hermione and the Headmaster alone.

Dumbledore motioned for Hermione to sit down in the chair opposite to his desk, which she did with great caution, awaiting the professor's lecture. "Sir, what would you have to say to me that you couldn't say in front of everyone else?" she asked.

The old man sighed heavily, looking more ragged and beaten down than Hermione had ever seen him. After last year's narrow escape with death, Dumbledore was dying. He didn't have much time left, and that seemed to be the largest elephant in the room of them all.

"Miss. Granger, I don't know whether to praise or chide you for taking my words from last year to heart," he chuckled, "but you must realize that we are in greater trouble than you realize. This ritual that you have performed required one of the last Time-Turners ever in existence, one that we no longer have access to unfortunately. I'm do not mean to reprimand you, but the consequences of bringing four people back from the past, three of whom are currently dead is going to be severe, on more people than you realize."

Hermione looked up to meet Dumbledore's eyes. "Sir, do you mean Harry?" she asked carefully.

The Headmaster nodded wistfully. "Do you not think that Mr. Potter will want to alert his parents as to who he is?"

"Would it really be such a bad thing?" demanded Hermione. "They were split apart for so long, why can't Harry have a chance to know his parents, whatever the circumstances may be?"

"If you are all about pre-planning, Miss. Granger, then tell me this: what if Lily and James were to die once again in this upcoming war, years before they are destined to, how will that affect the balance of time and how will that affect Harry?"

"I'll protect them," Hermione said fiercely, "I'll make sure that nothing happens to them, I promise."

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, his hands folded calmly together. "What were your intentions in bringing back the Founders? If we can figure that out, we can determine why four Gryffindors have replaced them."

"The Founders of Hogwarts possess intelligence far beyond the capacity of Voldemort himself," Hermione explained, "With such intelligence on our side, we can devise smarter attack tactics. We could defeat him. I know you gave Harry a task, one that I am planning on venturing out with him to complete, but with the Founders at Hogwarts it would have given us two different angles to work from. With Lily, James, Lupin, and Sirius…I don't know what kind of advantage this will give us. I'm scared." Hermione admitted.

"What you need to focus on right now is completing the task ahead of you," Dumbledore said, with a twinkle in his eye, "As of right now, take our students back to Gryffindor tower. I believe it is time for breakfast."


End file.
